Caregiver-infant interactions in humans

    Cards (12)

    • Proximity: staying physically close to who we are attached to
    • Separation distress: distress when attachment figure leaves us
    • Secure base behaviour: feeling secure when with an attachment figure
    • Safe haven: feeling safe with attachment figure
    • What were Meltzoff and Moore’s findings (1977)?
      They found an association between infant behaviour and the behaviour displayed by the adult
    • How old were the babies involved in Meltzoff and Moore’s study (1977)?
      12-21 days old
    • Reciprocity: the mutual exchange of responses between an infant and their caregiver which influences infant behaviour
    • Interactional synchrony: the temporal coordination of behaviours between an infant and their caregiver
    • Explain the Still Face experiment (Tronick et al 1978)
      A mother interacts with their infant as normal but suddenly stops when the babies show a mutual face
    • How did the babies react during the still face experiment?
      They initially continued making noises to try engage the mother back to into interacting with them.
      When the mother didn’t respond, they became distressed and turned away from the mother
    • Insecure attachment: mother-child relationships less synchronous; mothers minimally involved and unresponsive to infants
    • Secure attachment: mother-child relationship at 9 months interacted in a “well-timed and mutually-rewarding manner”